History isn't a straight line. It's more like a jagged piece of glass. When you look at the 1960s, everything seems to shatter around two specific dates: November 22, 1963, and June 5, 1968. If you’ve ever wondered why were the Kennedys killed, you aren't just looking for a name or a motive. You’re looking for a reason why the world changed so fast.
It’s messy. It’s deeply uncomfortable. Honestly, if you ask three different historians about Lee Harvey Oswald or Sirhan Sirhan, you’ll get four different answers. The official record says one thing, but the cultural trauma says another. We’re talking about a family that felt like royalty in a country that’s supposed to hate kings. That tension—between power, reform, and the cold hard reality of the Cold War—is where the answers usually hide.
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The Official Story: Lone Wolves in a Violent Era
The Warren Commission spent months trying to figure out the "why" behind John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Their answer? Lee Harvey Oswald. He was a Marxist, a defector, and a man who couldn't quite find his place in either the East or the West. He was, according to the official report, a loner. He acted alone because he wanted to be "somebody."
But people hate that answer. It feels too small.
How could a guy with a $20 rifle from a mail-order catalog take down the leader of the free world? It feels wrong. Five years later, Robert F. Kennedy was winning the California primary. He was the hope for the anti-war movement. Then, in a crowded kitchen pantry at the Ambassador Hotel, Sirhan Sirhan fired a .22 caliber revolver. Sirhan’s stated reason? RFK’s support for Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.
Again, a single man with a single grievance.
The Motives That Actually Make Sense
When we dig into why were the Kennedys killed, we have to look at who they were making angry. JFK wasn't just a charming face. He was presiding over a country that was vibrating with stress.
- The Cold War Paranoia: JFK’s handling of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis left the CIA and the military brass livid. Some felt he was "soft" on communism.
- Civil Rights: This is a big one. Bobby and Jack were pushing for integration. That didn't just annoy people; it made them murderous in the Jim Crow South.
- The Mob: This is the grit of the story. Joe Kennedy Sr. allegedly had ties to organized crime to help get Jack elected. Then, Bobby Kennedy, as Attorney General, went on a crusade to lock up every mob boss in America. Talk about a betrayal.
Did Policy Decisions Lead to the Dallas Motorcade?
Let’s talk about the "Secret Government." Not in a tinfoil hat way, but in a "how things actually worked" way. In 1963, JFK was beginning to question the trajectory of the Vietnam War. National Security Action Memorandum 263 hinted at a withdrawal. For the defense industry and the "hawks" in Washington, this was a disaster.
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Then there’s the Federal Reserve. Some people point to Executive Order 11110, which allowed the Treasury to issue silver certificates. The theory is that the big banks didn't like the President messing with the money supply. It’s a bit of a stretch for a motive, but it shows just how many toes the Kennedys were stepping on.
They were disruptors.
Before "disruptor" was a tech buzzword, the Kennedys were disrupting the status quo of American power. Bobby Kennedy was especially dangerous to the establishment. By 1968, he wasn't just a politician; he was a symbol. He was bringing together poor white laborers and Black activists. That kind of coalition is terrifying to people who keep power by keeping us divided.
The "Grassy Knoll" of the Mind
If you’ve watched Oliver Stone’s JFK, you’ve seen the cinematic version of the "why." But the reality is often more boring and more terrifying at the same time. The HSCA (House Select Committee on Assassinations) actually concluded in 1979 that there was a "high probability" that two gunmen fired at JFK. They cited acoustics that have been debated ever since.
Why does this matter? Because if there were two people, there was a conspiracy. If there was a conspiracy, the "why" shifts from one man’s mental health to a coordinated political hit.
The Bobby Kennedy Connection
Why was Bobby killed? You’ve got to remember the context of 1968. The country was screaming. Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed just weeks earlier. Bobby was the last thread holding the "Old New Deal" and the "New Left" together.
Sirhan Sirhan is still in prison. He’s claimed for decades he has no memory of the shooting. His lawyers have argued about "hypno-programming," which sounds like science fiction until you read about the CIA’s actual MKUltra programs from that era. Whether you believe Sirhan was a "Manchurian Candidate" or just a frustrated Palestinian nationalist, the result was the same: the Kennedy era was over.
What We Lose When We Ignore the Details
People often forget that the Kennedys were essentially a political machine. They weren't saints. They were ruthless. But they were also moving toward a version of America that looked very different from what the "Old Guard" wanted.
- The CIA Rift: JFK famously said he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds." That’s not a great way to make friends with people who kill for a living.
- The Castro Obsession: The U.S. was obsessed with killing Fidel Castro. Some believe Castro found out and struck first. Others believe the anti-Castro exiles felt betrayed by JFK's lack of air support at the Bay of Pigs.
The Reality of the "Kennedy Curse"
Is it a curse? No. It’s math. If you put yourself in the center of every major conflict in the 20th century—the Mob, the Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam—your risk profile goes through the roof.
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The question of why were the Kennedys killed is really a question of power. Who had it, who wanted it, and who was willing to kill to keep it. The Kennedys were trying to take power away from the shadows and put it back into the hands of the executive branch.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
We are still living in the shadow of those bullets. The distrust in government? It started in Dallas. The feeling that the "deep state" exists? That’s a direct descendant of the 1960s. We don't have closure because the evidence was handled poorly—either by mistake or by design.
The magic of the Kennedy story isn't just the tragedy. It's the "what if." What if JFK had finished his second term? Would Vietnam have happened? If Bobby had won in '68, would we be as polarized as we are today? We’ll never know. And that’s the real reason we keep asking why.
How to Understand This History Better
If you want to go deeper than a textbook, stop looking for "The One Secret." Instead, look at the intersections of interest. History is rarely one person acting alone; it’s a series of overlapping motives.
- Read the declassified files: The National Archives has released thousands of documents in the last few years. Most aren't "smoking guns," but they show the chaos of the time.
- Study the 1960s labor movements: See how Bobby Kennedy was actually connecting with people like Cesar Chavez. It explains why he was a threat.
- Visit the sites: If you ever go to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, look at the window. Then look at the street. It’s a lot smaller and more intimate than it looks on TV.
- Question the "Lone Wolf" narrative: Not because it’s definitely wrong, but because it’s the easiest answer for a government to give.
The best way to honor history is to keep asking the hard questions, even if the answers make you lose a little sleep. Understanding why were the Kennedys killed isn't about solving a cold case. It's about understanding the forces that still shape our world today.